Railways explore natural gas to fuel locomotives

NEW DELHI: The Indian Railways proposes to utilise natural gas as fuel for its fleets of diesel locomotives in line with the international trend. This will have a substantial effect on reducing the emission of carbon and in making the railway system environment-friendly, stated Railways Minister Mallikarjun Kharge in New Delhi today.

Inaugurating 10th edition of the International Rail Exhibition and Conference organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in the capital today, Kharge said that under the Research, Design and Standard Organization (RDSO), is doing considerable work in developing highly fuel efficient diesel locomotives.

In this regard, he disclosed that an Indian manufacturer has established a joint venture with a reputed foreign firm for design and development of the system under the overall supervision of RDSO.

Kharge said that FDI was welcome in infrastructure projects, such as the elevated rail corridor in Mumbai, high speed rails and dedicated freight corridor. FDI is also open for factories in rolling stock, such as locomotives and coaches, he stated.

Referring to the ambitious project of the railways - the Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC), he said that it would be a game changer for connectivity and freight easing all transportation significantly by connecting the northern hinterland and similarly the eastern side to the plants in the north.

There is considerable scope for private public partnership in railways in general and DFC in particular, the Minister said. Freight terminals, parts of the DFC, redevelopment of stations and elevated rail corridor in Mumbai are areas proposed for private investment during the 12th Plan period, he said.

The minister emphasized that during the 12th Plan period, there would be continuous effort to add new routes, augment capacity on existing routes, and invest in terminals, rolling stock and in workshop and maintenance facilities.

In absolute terms, he said that the Railways plan to add 4000 km of new lines besides over 7,500 km of doubling and 5,500 km of gauge conversion and 6500 km for electrification. Further, the Railways also plan to procure over one lakh wagons, 24,000 coaches and nearly 4000 locomotives.

The Minister pointed out that in the last decade, Indian Railways have reduced the number of accidents per million train kilometers from 0.44 in 2003-04 to 0.13 in 2012-13.

Railway Board chairman Arunendra Kumar, spoke about the large scale bio-toilets being introduced in the railway network. These cheap but effective toilets would be retrofitted in 55000 coaches. The total number of bio toilets when fully implemented would be around 2,50,000, he said. Calling for public private participation to enhance the speed of the passenger trains, Kumar said ""Our objective is to cover Mumbai-Ahmedabad by one hour and 52 minutes. It is a tough call and we need the support of the private sector in this regard"". He also informed about the signing of a joint venture between Railways and the Rashtriya Ispat Nigam today for setting up a coach factory.

The International Railway Equipment Exhibition (IREEE), in its 10th edition this year has over 400 exhibitors. The expo has direct participation from 24 countries including China, Czech Republic, France and Germany, as well as first time participants like Japan, Korea and Russia, with country pavilions. This year's event also sees the maiden edition of the Urban Mass Transit Expo (UMTE) 2013, a concurrent international exhibition cum conference with a clear focus on Metro and light rail. Speaking at the session on Rolling Stock - Trends and Future Developments, Arvind Khare, additional member, production unit, Railway Board, said that an international seminar would shortly be organised inviting suggestions from national and international universities and research bodies, to enhance the speed of the passenger and freight trains in India. He also laid emphasis on the Vision 2020 of Railways which has made elaborate plans for achieving greater fuel efficiency, capacity utilization and speed. CII president Kris Gopalakrishnan spelt out four areas for enhancing the efficiency of the railways. Greater stress on the PPP model, expansion of the existing railway network, modernization of technology by inducting, heavier, and faster trains and increased pace in gauge conversion. He also suggested faster processing of wagon tenders to facilitate swift procurement.